Back in 2012 Jill Ball published the first Accentuate the Positive Geneameme Jill said:

“At this time of year many geneabloggers take stock of what they have achieved or not achieved in the previous twelve months and set themselves goals for the coming year. I have been reading several of these posts this week.

I feel that a lot of my geneablogging friends are too hard on themselves; several have reported on their successes this year but quite a number have lamented that they haven’t achieved as much as they set out to do or that they haven’t blogged with the frequency they envisaged.

You are a bunch of highly motivated people who have made great strides in the genealogy sphere. Let’s share the good news.”

For the 2024 challenge I was going to be lazy and use the prompts from 2012 but on reading them realised there was no mention of AI, DNA or Zoom in the 2012 list. Blogging has also waned in popularity and Twitter has gone off the rails. I have therefore modified my questions. 

Jill invites you to take part in this activity by responding to the following statements/questions in an online post. Write as much or as little as you want and complete as many statements as you wish. If you wish to take part and don’t have a blog email me your responses and she will post them here on the GeniAus blog.

Once you have done so please share your post’s link in a comment on this post or to Jill via email to jillballau@gmail.com. she will, later in January, compile a list of links to your contributions here on this blog.

Remember to Accentuate the Positive – please delete the statements that are not relevant to your situation.

1.  Google provided an answer to

I use Google a lot – mostly for place names that I am not familiar with. For example, is a place near where my ancestors were from?

2.  I was the recipient of genearosity from 

Members of the Bribie Family History Association – during our Genie Chats (via Zoom) members make suggestions for research. By hosting these sessions, I also learn a lot and keep up to date with what’s new.

I would also like to acknowledge the website help and motivation from Joannes Evers who has kept my website functioning when I can’t work out what it is wrong.

3.  This headstone gave me some extra information

I haven’t discovered any new headstones for my family history research BUT I am using FindAGrave to find more information on the 1750 women in my Ph D research. That often quickly leads me to husbands, parents and children.

4.  A useful record I discovered was

So many articles from Trove on my families and remember to look at collateral lines as they may also relate to your direct line. I love finding obituaries and one even contained the name of the ship they arrived on from America.

5.  A newly found family member who shared

A distant male cousin agreed to do a Big Y DNA test to confirm my theory on Dad’s family. He matched my brother, so I know now that we are part of the Heddles family of Islandmagee in Northern Ireland.

6.  A geneasurprise I received was

They say it is a small world, but the recent Unlock the Past genealogy cruise was not where I was expecting to find a new relative. I met and became friendly with Maureen Finnane (wife of one of my PhD overseers). After the cruise I went home to put into practice my new DNA matching tips. Lo and behold Maureen is my 4^th cousin on Mum’s side.

7.   My 2024 post that I was particularly proud of was

I didn’t blog very much in 2024, mostly entries in my Diary of an Australian Genealogist. In December I did a report on the genealogy cruise and used an old article, An Aussie Christmas, to talk about Christmas traditions in our family. Since my original article, so much has changed in my family circumstances. It is good to look back on memories.

I also did two guest blog posts for the Genealogical Society of Queensand. Why Why Why – Question Everything which received numerous responses and Shauna’s Family History – A-Z which also got people thinking early in the year.

8.   DNA helped me to 

As above, confirming Dad’s origins was a big accomplishment. Now I know for sure, and I suspect my grandmother would be totally surprised that I finally managed to discover the truth. Technology has changed so much in the last 10-20 years.

9.  I was pleased I upgraded

My Ancestry subscription to include PRO Tools as I find that a much easier way to see relationships within my matches. Plus, most of my matches are in Ancestry.

10. Although Face to Face events have returned Zoom has 

I still run Bribie’s Genie Chats as a Zoom session for several reasons. Perhaps the best one is that you can record it, and members can play it back. Also, not everyone can attend on a Wednesday morning, so they don’t miss out. They simply watch the recording later. We don’t have to travel anywhere which is good for those who live further away from Bribie.

11. I dipped my toes into

AI – artificial intelligence has been very useful with my PhD research by providing summaries of long court cases. I simply download the article from Trove in text format and then upload that into Chat GPT and it will provide a summary, list of persons involved and whatever else I ask it.

12. I connected with 

This year I made more of an effort to attend events in person. I reconnected with members of the Brisbane History Group, the Queensland Professional Historians Association and met new people from the Queensland Women’s Historical Association. From their various events I came home with lots of new ideas for research.

13. By dipping my toes into AI I was able to

One example is above but I have also used it to create images.

14. I was honoured to

Accept the Order of Australia medal for community history in the King’s Birthday Honours List in June. The presentation at Queensland Government House was a highlight of my almost 50 years in archives and family history.

15. I found this presentation most useful

Gosh there are so many as I usually learn something from all of them. My favourite place to go is Legacy Family Tree webinars – you can register and watch new webinars for free for 7 days. Or become a subscribe and get access to everything including handouts.

16. A great repository/archive/library I visited was

Living on Bribie Island, you tend to think twice about visiting the mainland! So, my favourite place to find family history is the Internet Archive. There is so much to discover, especially old histories of places which may or may not be indexed. I have found great background context on what life was like living in particular places. Remember to donate to keep this wonderful resource free to use.

17. I got the most value from this book

Gosh, again there are so many that I could name. My home library grew by dozens of books even though I have a ‘no new books’ policy. Everything is recorded in Library Thing, also an app on my phone so that I don’t buy the same book twice. Most handy.

18. It was exciting to finally meet

Catching up with Chris Paton and Mia Bennett again on the genealogy cruise was nice and other regular cruisers. No one new springs to mind as I haven’t really been out there in 2024.

19. A geneadventure I enjoyed was

My big planned geneadventure for 2024 was a cruise around the UK and Shetlands with a visit to Belfast where I was meeting up with members of the Islandmagee DNA group, part of the North of Ireland Family History Society.. They were going to take me to Islandmagee and show me my GGG grandparents’ grave. Sadly, not meant to be as I developed pneumonia and ended up in a hospital in Liverpool, England. In 2025 I am again planning this adventure, this time flying from Denmark to Ireland after my family visit to Sweden.

20. Another positive I would like to mention

The friendships gained from membership of family history groups. Visits to Bribie and Caloundra meetings are always fun catching up with friends, learning from the speakers and the general camaraderie of being amongst likeminded people.

Thank you to Jill for encouraging us all to record our geneasuccesses in 2024.